Vadivelu Interview

For all those hardcore Vadivelu fans:

Interview Part1

Interview Part2

Doordarshan

Doordarshan has had a special appeal to me, especially because of the fact that I grew up watching this national channel, which was the only one available during those days (late 1980s and early 1990s). In particular, my bonding towards these DD channels was more stronger that others, I grew up at a place where cable TV was clearly out of reach and I had no choice but to savour the DD1 and DD2 (metro). But, looking back at it, in a way that was fun. I seldom have the same excitement on watching television channels now, infact its not even a fraction of what I used to hold as a kid. The world has metamorphosized and we now only flip-channels. Its a race that all channels have gotten in, to show stuff that would catch you eye as you hurriedly button away to the end of the list. If a channel gave you even five minutes of boredom, they ran the risk of being completely ignored for rest of the day or worse-even being blacklisted so that nobody in the entire family watched it again :) Back then, the case was different, all you had were the twin DD channels with their regional equivalents of course, these entertained the people (whether they liked it or not). But, the entertainment and knowledge-sharing it provided was complete - we had news, movies, documentaries, mythological soaps, advertisements, thrillers, detective serials, educational programmes, sports telecast, so on..

This post is to reminiscence of all those moments, all those good old commercials/serials/theme music tracks that drag me back to those days. My personal favorites were Amul Surabhi (I love the intro music track), Rangoli (the programme was on Sunday and I woke up listening to its songs), Chandrakanta (the thrilling fantasy series), Sri Krishna (I never missed a single episode, this was the best of Ramanand Sagar's creations!) and so on..

These are some randomly picked up stuff I found on youtube that took me back to that age and I felt like archiving them. Hope you do enjoy them as well!

Doordarshan Signature

Doordarshan AD

DD News Intro

Mile Sur Mera Tumhara

Baje Sargam

Vijayi Vishwa Tiranga Pyara

Jungle book title song

Duck Tales

Alif Laila

Surabhi

Bharat Ek Khoj

Oshin

Chandrakanta (music track alone, could n't locate original video)

Sri Krishna serial Title Song

Shaktimaan Title Song

Om Namah Shivay Serial Title Song

Jai Hanuman Serial Title Song

Cadburys AD

Dairy Milk AD

Bajaj AD

Dhara AD

Asian Paints

Nescafe AD

Tipu Sultan Intro

Vico Vajratanti

Vico Turmeric Cream

Complan AD

Parle-G Commercial

Splendor Commercial

Fevicol Oldest AD

Feviquick AD

Titan Commercial

Lifebuoy AD

Doodh AD

Doordarshan Nostalgic Moments

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E78RcIFQCRc&feature=related

Kanjivaram :: A Tamil historical..

The latest hubbub of movies like Slumdog Millionaire and Ghajini has eclipsed a movie which deserves far more attention that what it has received. The movie Kanjivaram (Tamil) showcases a stellar performance by Prakash Raj who plays the lead role that sweeps the viewer completely off his feet by the dedication and theme he portrays.

The movie captioned as "a communist confession", is staged during the British era in the ancient (famous) city of Kanjivaram and is based on the life of silk-weavers in Tamil Nadu during that period and the revolution following it. The following prelude appears before the movie -

"Pushpeshu Jati Purusheshu Vishnu Narishu Ramba Nagereshu Kanchi" - Kalidasa
The above verse "Nagareshu Kanchi" written by the famous Sanskrit poet Kalidasa, states that at one time Kanjivaram was amongst the best cities in ancient India.
In Hinduism, the Pattu (Silk) epitomizes purity of the highest degree. Being an auspicious symbolism and a holy blessing, silk plays a very important role in every Hindu's life in India, and it is a strong belief to be adorned in silk twice in life.
Once at the time of marriage, to ensure the purity of the relationship and once at the time of death, to purify the soul and carry it to heaven.
The silk weavers however, never succeeded in practising this due to their meagre salary. Thus it always remained a distant dream to them. And so, came a revolution..

The movie revolves around a silk-weaver Venkatam (Prakash Raj) cherishing the above dreams and showing the course of his life as he chases them, misfortune and ill-luck striking him on the way.

He dreams of getting his wife adorned in a silk saree and bringing her home, but the huge pile of coins he had saved for years together out of his weaving seems insufficient for it. Soon he is gifted with a girl child and during the traditional ceremony following it, he promises the child as a father that he would get her married in a silk-saree. This evokes immediate ridicule and brouhaha from the people around, but Venkatam is determined to fulfill this for his daughter.

A series of events span the story henceforth - Venkatam, being the best among the weavers is asked to weave a special saree for the marriage of a landlord and he is rewarded by an Englishman who is impressed by the work. While he puts his best efforts daily, he describes his artistic patterns for the saree to be woven, more poetically to his wife and she gets curious to see it once. Venkatam carries her miles along to the wedding of his landlord's daughter so she can get a glimpse of the beautiful saree he had woven and claimed accolades for.

His wife - Annam (Shreya Reddy) dies of illness soon and he is left alone with his daughter, who keeps asking him to show her the silk-saree he had promised her for her marriage. Venkatam buys a weaving machine and hides it behind his home where he secretly works on the saree for his daughter every night. But, the love for his daughter and the desire to fulfill his promise blinds him completely and he steals silk-thread from his workplace to complete the saree for his daughter. He is caught, accused of being a thief and traitor, is mercilessly beaten up and sent to jail, while his daughter is left all alone is her hut. Soon, Venkatam learns that Annam is struck by a paralaytic attack and comes home to see her. <<Senti scene>> Realizing that there's effectively no-one to take care of her until he returns from jail, he lays her to eternal sleep, begging her to forgive him! The last bit of the movie is touching, when he gets reminded of the piece of half-woven silk cloth still lying in his house and gets it to cover her body atleast now, but he finds that it is not long enough!

With a couple of other trivial events, Director - Priyadarshan has made good attempt to take the audience into the English-era , with the B&W screenplay, rickety old-fashioned vehicles, attire of the Zamindars and the weavers, and petty things like the zeal among people to see a motor-vehicle and the excitement about getting their son educated/sending him to army.

I would term this movie as a big success for the director and Prakash Raj!
Definitely worth watching..

Some of the best Vadivel's Dialogues..

Couldn't stop myself from sharing these hilarious tracks online..













P.S> For the benefit of those who aren't aware of Vadivelu - "He's a leading comedian
in the Tamil Cinema"..